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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Interview with Kat Jorgensen

Today we get to meet Kat Jorgensen and get a taste for her humorous writing as she tours and talks about her book Your Eight O’Clock Is Dead.

Bio:
A notorious daydreamer, Kat knew it was only a matter of time before she became a writer. She learned to read by age four and had her first library card before her fifth birthday. To this day, she can lose herself for hours among the books at her local library or neighborhood bookstore. Ebooks and online ordering have made it really easy for her to keep her To Be Read pile from ever going down. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Kat is married with children and has a cranky tuxedo cat named Ben.

Please tell us about your current release, Your Eight O'Clock Is Dead.
A lovable screw-up finds a patient murdered in the psychiatric firm’s waiting room where she works. Convinced the bad publicity from the murder will cause the demise of the fledgling firm, she appoints herself unofficial investigator and finds a host of quirky characters who could have done it. But can she solve the crime, bring the killer to justice, save her job - and maybe even her life - before the murderer strikes again?

What inspired you to write this book?
My husband and I had been through some major health challenges and up until then I was writing romantic suspense. Dark and scary stories. After all we’d been through, I decided I wanted to switch genres and have some light-hearted fun killing people and solving the murders. Out of this came my main character, Becca Reynolds. Becca is a lot like me. A younger, thinner version of me with much better hair.

She holds a job very similar to one I once held. As I came up with her personality traits and quirks, I also asked myself what would happen if this character was running late and chattering away and all the while a dead person was sitting in the office. And my imagination took it from there.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m working on book 2 in the same series. Your Time Is Up will continue the misadventures of Becca, her grandad, and all of the supporting characters you get to know in Your Eight O’Clock Is Dead. In the upcoming book, murder is once again associated with a Daley & Palmer patient, er, client! Dang - I’m as bad as Becca. I’ll never get that right. The book should be out in the spring. The next book in the series will be Your Lights Are Out and will be set at holiday time. It’s due out in the fall of 2012. Someone is found strangled with the lights from the firm’s Christmas tree around their neck. I have the tentative cover for this book and it has Higgins, the cat in the series, dragging the string of lights out of the picture. Becca will have plenty to do in both books and she’ll be learning things about the other characters in the book.

Becca just loves investigating. Despite what everyone else thinks, she thinks she’s very capable with her detective skills.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Once I decided to write a full-length novel and was pursuing publication seriously, I considered myself a writer. That’s been about 10 years or so now.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write full-time and also have a part-time medical billing business. I try to write first thing in the day. I used to save it for when the family had gone to bed and I had quiet time. But for me, that’s not practical. I need a sharp mind when I write, and I’m sharpest in the morning. After I get the writing done, I check in on Twitter, Facebook, and try to keep up with industry news. If I have any research I need to do, I get that in. I brainstorm scenes and as things come to me about the series, I jot them down. Nothing is wasted. I try to stay in contact with my writer friends by email, and I take online classes to keep my skills sharp and add to my writer’s tool box. I also read a lot.

I believe that writing is a choice. You have to make it a priority or it will not get done. You’ll be one of those writers who “want” to write. The goal each day is to write.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I have a mug that I found at Barnes & Noble. One side says Off Duty and the reverse side says On Duty. I turn the On Duty side to face out whenever I’m writing. It’s my clue to me that I’m in writer mode. And a clue to the family that I’m working.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A queen or a star. LOL. It took awhile for me to realize that I wasn’t of noble birth and that my chances of marrying a King were not that good. As for a star, I have no acting talent. None.

I also wanted to be a writer. That one is working out nicely. : )

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Just that I appreciate the chance to share some information about my book and myself. I’m a virtual unknown, and it’s going to be through word of mouth that my books reach readers. I hope your blog readers will take a chance on Becca and the gang and on me.

Thank you so much for having me as your guest today.

It's been my pleasure, Kat. Your writing sounds fun.

Readers, Kat is giving away an e-book to a lucky commentor at every stop along her virtual tour. So comment here (and leave your e-mail) for a chance to win. Also feel free to check out her other tour dates and stops and leave more comments.

28 comments:

Thank you, Lisa, for having Kat over with this great interview. Such fun. Kat, I really love that you switched to writing humorous, more light-hearted, mysteries in the wake of such tough real life stuff. Makes such sense. We get so involved with our writing that we live in that world, the world of our book and in our characters lives, that it has an impact on our real lives. Very smart switch!

I think I need a similar mug to the one you have for my kids to see. One side would say, Not Listening. The other side …. STILL Not Listening. :)

Kat, I have to tell you that I absolutely adore your book and I can't wait for the next one. When is it out?? And can you give us a hint about what's up next for Becca? Oh, and I have to say go Team Max, lol.

Kat, so nice to read about you and your book! I must admit, though, that seeing the title YOUR EIGHT O'CLOCK IS DEAD and then reading that you were going through major health challenges when you were inspired to write the book, I fully expected to learn you were stuck for hours in doctors' waiting rooms, dreaming up ways to kill the other patients so you could see the doctor faster. Good to know you're a much kinder person than I am!

Thank you, Tessa. I hope YOUR TIME IS UP will be out in the spring or early summer. Becca learns a bit more about Max and Daisy's pasts while investigating a local murder connected to a foreign ice skater. Yes, we get to see Becca on ice. Now that alone is worth the price of the book. : ) But lots of secrets revealed and more in-depth looks at all of the characters. I'm so happy that Daisy is a featured character in this story. And I love that the reader will learn more about why Max and Ryder dislike each other so much. Thank you for your comment.

I don't know if you watched FRASIER on TV, but every time he tells his listeners,"Im listening" it cracked me up. I'm not listening for writers is even better. We need our time to be with our characters and a lot of time family members just don't get that. I think you need a lock for your door. LOL.

Jen, my dad was with me on one dr's visit and we appalled many people in the waiting room by our discussion on ways to kill people and make it look like an accident. I was taking notes and Daddy was tossing out ideas. It's kind of scary that he was so good at coming up with so many ways to kill people. And he's such a gentle man.

Well, you know writers. We take what we can, where we can.

Years ago my husband and I were having dinner when I announced to him that I was going to have to kill off the preist. He knew I was talking about a character in one of my books and he knew the plot so he was playing devil's advocate on why not to kill off the poor man of the cloth. We realized that the restaurant had gotten really quiet. And Jorgie had to tell everybody that I was a writer. You could hear the collected sigh of relief.

Loving your blog tour, Kat.My writing schedule is very much like yours. By night fall, my brain's exhausted. These tidbits of insider stuff make the story really stick in my head. Can't wait for book 2. Thanks for hosting, Liz.

Reading about you and your "take" on life make me eager to try your first (of many) mysteries. The characters sound so appealing. I personally love an imperfect heroine--much easier to relate and to enjoy what she's going to stumble upon next.

Thanks for sharing your background and the impetus for writing "Your Eight O'Clock...." I'm a little disturbed that you and your family concoct plots to kill off priests, patients and other unsuspecting innocents.

I only "kill" on the page, FF. Only on the page. And I ended up not killing off the priest. I just couldn't do it. I had to decide if the story really needed it and I went a different way with the plot and ended up letting the poor priest live.

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About Me

I'm a NH native and love New England. I love writing about the region, exploring it on foot, on my bicycle, and in my car. There are so many small communities and fun and interesting people in this area, that I could be here a lifetime and not do all it is I want to do. :)

I'm a moderator at The Writer's Chatroom that hosts live chats with guest authors on Sunday nights 7-9PM EST. Join the e-mail list to get notifications of upcoming guests, then stop in and join the conversation!